USB flash drive not working or is appearing as an empty disk drive, Disk Management reports “No Media”...











up vote
28
down vote

favorite
10












I have a USB flash drive which is no longer recognized by my computer. Windows Disk Management and DiskPart report No Media with no storage space (0 bytes) on the drive and I cannot partition or format the drive:



Console window with DiskPart showing "No Media" on the flash drive
Source



If the drive appears in Windows Explorer, trying to access it returns an error message indicating that there is no disk inserted, such as the following:




Please insert a disk into drive X:.




Various disk partitioning and data recovery utilities don't recognize the drive or only give a generic name for the drive and cannot access the contents of the drive.



What can I do? How do I recover data from the drive?




This question comes up often and the answers are usually the same. This post is meant to provide a definitive, canonical answer for this problem. Feel free to edit the answer to add additional details.











share|improve this question




















  • 3




    List of duplicates: superuser.com/q/538383, superuser.com/q/871762, superuser.com/q/431073, superuser.com/q/311111, superuser.com/q/819820, superuser.com/q/692929, superuser.com/q/746344, superuser.com/q/373508, superuser.com/q/200910, superuser.com/q/73754, superuser.com/q/101190, superuser.com/q/327707, superuser.com/q/426218, superuser.com/q/445728, superuser.com/q/839177
    – bwDraco
    Feb 1 '15 at 14:37










  • For housekeeping: see also the question "What can I do if my USB flash drive is write-protected or read-only?".
    – teika kazura
    Mar 16 '17 at 8:21










  • Related:  How do I fix my USB drive  to get its original size back?
    – G-Man
    Sep 13 '17 at 21:25






  • 1




    @bwDraco I didn't click on all of those, but this question specifically addresses the "no media" question. That's why it's in bold.
    – Mark Cramer
    Mar 2 at 21:24















up vote
28
down vote

favorite
10












I have a USB flash drive which is no longer recognized by my computer. Windows Disk Management and DiskPart report No Media with no storage space (0 bytes) on the drive and I cannot partition or format the drive:



Console window with DiskPart showing "No Media" on the flash drive
Source



If the drive appears in Windows Explorer, trying to access it returns an error message indicating that there is no disk inserted, such as the following:




Please insert a disk into drive X:.




Various disk partitioning and data recovery utilities don't recognize the drive or only give a generic name for the drive and cannot access the contents of the drive.



What can I do? How do I recover data from the drive?




This question comes up often and the answers are usually the same. This post is meant to provide a definitive, canonical answer for this problem. Feel free to edit the answer to add additional details.











share|improve this question




















  • 3




    List of duplicates: superuser.com/q/538383, superuser.com/q/871762, superuser.com/q/431073, superuser.com/q/311111, superuser.com/q/819820, superuser.com/q/692929, superuser.com/q/746344, superuser.com/q/373508, superuser.com/q/200910, superuser.com/q/73754, superuser.com/q/101190, superuser.com/q/327707, superuser.com/q/426218, superuser.com/q/445728, superuser.com/q/839177
    – bwDraco
    Feb 1 '15 at 14:37










  • For housekeeping: see also the question "What can I do if my USB flash drive is write-protected or read-only?".
    – teika kazura
    Mar 16 '17 at 8:21










  • Related:  How do I fix my USB drive  to get its original size back?
    – G-Man
    Sep 13 '17 at 21:25






  • 1




    @bwDraco I didn't click on all of those, but this question specifically addresses the "no media" question. That's why it's in bold.
    – Mark Cramer
    Mar 2 at 21:24













up vote
28
down vote

favorite
10









up vote
28
down vote

favorite
10






10





I have a USB flash drive which is no longer recognized by my computer. Windows Disk Management and DiskPart report No Media with no storage space (0 bytes) on the drive and I cannot partition or format the drive:



Console window with DiskPart showing "No Media" on the flash drive
Source



If the drive appears in Windows Explorer, trying to access it returns an error message indicating that there is no disk inserted, such as the following:




Please insert a disk into drive X:.




Various disk partitioning and data recovery utilities don't recognize the drive or only give a generic name for the drive and cannot access the contents of the drive.



What can I do? How do I recover data from the drive?




This question comes up often and the answers are usually the same. This post is meant to provide a definitive, canonical answer for this problem. Feel free to edit the answer to add additional details.











share|improve this question















I have a USB flash drive which is no longer recognized by my computer. Windows Disk Management and DiskPart report No Media with no storage space (0 bytes) on the drive and I cannot partition or format the drive:



Console window with DiskPart showing "No Media" on the flash drive
Source



If the drive appears in Windows Explorer, trying to access it returns an error message indicating that there is no disk inserted, such as the following:




Please insert a disk into drive X:.




Various disk partitioning and data recovery utilities don't recognize the drive or only give a generic name for the drive and cannot access the contents of the drive.



What can I do? How do I recover data from the drive?




This question comes up often and the answers are usually the same. This post is meant to provide a definitive, canonical answer for this problem. Feel free to edit the answer to add additional details.








usb-flash-drive data-recovery hardware-failure community-faq






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17









Community

1




1










asked Jan 31 '15 at 3:28









bwDraco

36.5k36135177




36.5k36135177








  • 3




    List of duplicates: superuser.com/q/538383, superuser.com/q/871762, superuser.com/q/431073, superuser.com/q/311111, superuser.com/q/819820, superuser.com/q/692929, superuser.com/q/746344, superuser.com/q/373508, superuser.com/q/200910, superuser.com/q/73754, superuser.com/q/101190, superuser.com/q/327707, superuser.com/q/426218, superuser.com/q/445728, superuser.com/q/839177
    – bwDraco
    Feb 1 '15 at 14:37










  • For housekeeping: see also the question "What can I do if my USB flash drive is write-protected or read-only?".
    – teika kazura
    Mar 16 '17 at 8:21










  • Related:  How do I fix my USB drive  to get its original size back?
    – G-Man
    Sep 13 '17 at 21:25






  • 1




    @bwDraco I didn't click on all of those, but this question specifically addresses the "no media" question. That's why it's in bold.
    – Mark Cramer
    Mar 2 at 21:24














  • 3




    List of duplicates: superuser.com/q/538383, superuser.com/q/871762, superuser.com/q/431073, superuser.com/q/311111, superuser.com/q/819820, superuser.com/q/692929, superuser.com/q/746344, superuser.com/q/373508, superuser.com/q/200910, superuser.com/q/73754, superuser.com/q/101190, superuser.com/q/327707, superuser.com/q/426218, superuser.com/q/445728, superuser.com/q/839177
    – bwDraco
    Feb 1 '15 at 14:37










  • For housekeeping: see also the question "What can I do if my USB flash drive is write-protected or read-only?".
    – teika kazura
    Mar 16 '17 at 8:21










  • Related:  How do I fix my USB drive  to get its original size back?
    – G-Man
    Sep 13 '17 at 21:25






  • 1




    @bwDraco I didn't click on all of those, but this question specifically addresses the "no media" question. That's why it's in bold.
    – Mark Cramer
    Mar 2 at 21:24








3




3




List of duplicates: superuser.com/q/538383, superuser.com/q/871762, superuser.com/q/431073, superuser.com/q/311111, superuser.com/q/819820, superuser.com/q/692929, superuser.com/q/746344, superuser.com/q/373508, superuser.com/q/200910, superuser.com/q/73754, superuser.com/q/101190, superuser.com/q/327707, superuser.com/q/426218, superuser.com/q/445728, superuser.com/q/839177
– bwDraco
Feb 1 '15 at 14:37




List of duplicates: superuser.com/q/538383, superuser.com/q/871762, superuser.com/q/431073, superuser.com/q/311111, superuser.com/q/819820, superuser.com/q/692929, superuser.com/q/746344, superuser.com/q/373508, superuser.com/q/200910, superuser.com/q/73754, superuser.com/q/101190, superuser.com/q/327707, superuser.com/q/426218, superuser.com/q/445728, superuser.com/q/839177
– bwDraco
Feb 1 '15 at 14:37












For housekeeping: see also the question "What can I do if my USB flash drive is write-protected or read-only?".
– teika kazura
Mar 16 '17 at 8:21




For housekeeping: see also the question "What can I do if my USB flash drive is write-protected or read-only?".
– teika kazura
Mar 16 '17 at 8:21












Related:  How do I fix my USB drive  to get its original size back?
– G-Man
Sep 13 '17 at 21:25




Related:  How do I fix my USB drive  to get its original size back?
– G-Man
Sep 13 '17 at 21:25




1




1




@bwDraco I didn't click on all of those, but this question specifically addresses the "no media" question. That's why it's in bold.
– Mark Cramer
Mar 2 at 21:24




@bwDraco I didn't click on all of those, but this question specifically addresses the "no media" question. That's why it's in bold.
– Mark Cramer
Mar 2 at 21:24










4 Answers
4






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
21
down vote



accepted










Failing Flash Drive



"No Media" means the flash memory controller cannot communicate with the NAND flash memory on the drive. Because of this, it appears to the computer as an empty disk drive. This is usually caused by the NAND flash failing. To the computer, the drive is not much different than a floppy or optical drive with no disk inserted.



As a result, it is not possible to access any data on the drive, nor is it possible to repartition or reformat the drive. Again, from the standpoint of the computer, there is no medium in the drive to be formatted or repartitioned.



Fake Drive?



It is also possible that the drive is fake and the cheap memory chip in the drive has failed. Drives failing in this manner will often show up as a storage device with 8MB capacity.



Potential Hardware-Specific Restoration



From this answer: You can obtain more information about the drive and its controller using a tool called ChipGenius. You might be able to recover the drive hardware by using a tool such as Bootice to manipulate the MBR.



Additionally, if the drive uses a Phison controller, you may be able to use the Phison USB Mass Production Tools to reprogram the controller and restore normal operation. Note that doing this will erase all data on the drive.



Data Recovery



In cases where stored information is merely corrupted, consumer data recovery software can often recover the contents. However, that won't work if the drive fails as described here.



There are data recovery services that can use special equipment to try to recover content from the chips. However, it is expensive. If you can't restore the drive to normal operation, it probably isn't worth sending it to a data recovery service unless the data stored on the drive is particularly valuable. You should simply replace the drive.






share|improve this answer























  • Jake Gould: I'm not sure if I agree with your edit. I won't be around much longer today, but the answer is deliberately structured in this fashion. To understand why I format my answers this way, see recent answers posted by Thaddeus at Science Fiction & Fantasy. Let me know what you think about this format, perhaps in this chat room, and I will respond tomorrow.
    – bwDraco
    Jan 31 '15 at 4:03








  • 1




    Looking at Thaddeus’s answers versus yours, I see a key difference: This is a bullet list of items with one paragraph at the top. Formatting it so you are essentially shouting an answer doesn’t bring more focus to something that already has focus. It just looks like shouting.
    – JakeGould
    Jan 31 '15 at 4:14






  • 5




    @JakeGould ultimately you should respect the wishes of the person who originally wrote a post if there's disagreement about an edit (unless we're talking something completely inappropriate). I agree though that heading formatting shouldn't be abused to make text stand out (it should be used for headings in long posts), and I think your edits were appropriate.
    – nhinkle
    Jan 31 '15 at 4:28










  • @nhinkle Agree with the spirit of the original poster, but I believe the tone used for an area like the science fiction and fantasy site is different from other sites that are essentially dealing with hard facts.
    – JakeGould
    Jan 31 '15 at 4:37






  • 1




    I have had lots of luck with the HP USB Recovery Tool.
    – Burgi
    Mar 2 '16 at 22:38


















up vote
3
down vote













Go to MyComputer/Manage/USB Controller/USB Mass Storage/Unistall while plugged, then remove it, and re-plug in, the driver will -re-installed. It solved it on my computer.






share|improve this answer





















  • 1: I knew my USB Drive was fine, but had been used as a bootable USB to install Windows. This suggestion made it possible for me to see the entire partition in Disk Management. 2: I had no data I needed to recover on it, so I cleaned it before the last step; this can maybe be avoided if you have... I went to diskpart (open in CMD): 2.1: list disk 2.2: sel disk x 2.3: clean 3: Finally, to be able to format it again, I wen into the drives properties and under policies and switched it to "Optimize for performance" (instead of "Optimize for quick removal").
    – RasmusP_963
    Feb 21 '17 at 11:14












  • This worked for me
    – PlanetWilson
    May 6 '17 at 14:05


















up vote
2
down vote













This may happen also when there is insufficient power supply to the flash from the usb port. Check that you are not overloading the usb ports with power hungry peripheralas. Also tortured USB cables, if there are any connected, may sometimes leak current and reduce the available power.






share|improve this answer




























    up vote
    2
    down vote













    The flash drive is fried, or at least not functioning. I did this to save the content: put it in the freezer for a couple of hours, and it appeared again for just enough time to copy the contents to the harddrive. Then it disappeared again.






    share|improve this answer






















      protected by bwDraco May 15 '16 at 18:28



      Thank you for your interest in this question.
      Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).



      Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?














      4 Answers
      4






      active

      oldest

      votes








      4 Answers
      4






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes








      up vote
      21
      down vote



      accepted










      Failing Flash Drive



      "No Media" means the flash memory controller cannot communicate with the NAND flash memory on the drive. Because of this, it appears to the computer as an empty disk drive. This is usually caused by the NAND flash failing. To the computer, the drive is not much different than a floppy or optical drive with no disk inserted.



      As a result, it is not possible to access any data on the drive, nor is it possible to repartition or reformat the drive. Again, from the standpoint of the computer, there is no medium in the drive to be formatted or repartitioned.



      Fake Drive?



      It is also possible that the drive is fake and the cheap memory chip in the drive has failed. Drives failing in this manner will often show up as a storage device with 8MB capacity.



      Potential Hardware-Specific Restoration



      From this answer: You can obtain more information about the drive and its controller using a tool called ChipGenius. You might be able to recover the drive hardware by using a tool such as Bootice to manipulate the MBR.



      Additionally, if the drive uses a Phison controller, you may be able to use the Phison USB Mass Production Tools to reprogram the controller and restore normal operation. Note that doing this will erase all data on the drive.



      Data Recovery



      In cases where stored information is merely corrupted, consumer data recovery software can often recover the contents. However, that won't work if the drive fails as described here.



      There are data recovery services that can use special equipment to try to recover content from the chips. However, it is expensive. If you can't restore the drive to normal operation, it probably isn't worth sending it to a data recovery service unless the data stored on the drive is particularly valuable. You should simply replace the drive.






      share|improve this answer























      • Jake Gould: I'm not sure if I agree with your edit. I won't be around much longer today, but the answer is deliberately structured in this fashion. To understand why I format my answers this way, see recent answers posted by Thaddeus at Science Fiction & Fantasy. Let me know what you think about this format, perhaps in this chat room, and I will respond tomorrow.
        – bwDraco
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:03








      • 1




        Looking at Thaddeus’s answers versus yours, I see a key difference: This is a bullet list of items with one paragraph at the top. Formatting it so you are essentially shouting an answer doesn’t bring more focus to something that already has focus. It just looks like shouting.
        – JakeGould
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:14






      • 5




        @JakeGould ultimately you should respect the wishes of the person who originally wrote a post if there's disagreement about an edit (unless we're talking something completely inappropriate). I agree though that heading formatting shouldn't be abused to make text stand out (it should be used for headings in long posts), and I think your edits were appropriate.
        – nhinkle
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:28










      • @nhinkle Agree with the spirit of the original poster, but I believe the tone used for an area like the science fiction and fantasy site is different from other sites that are essentially dealing with hard facts.
        – JakeGould
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:37






      • 1




        I have had lots of luck with the HP USB Recovery Tool.
        – Burgi
        Mar 2 '16 at 22:38















      up vote
      21
      down vote



      accepted










      Failing Flash Drive



      "No Media" means the flash memory controller cannot communicate with the NAND flash memory on the drive. Because of this, it appears to the computer as an empty disk drive. This is usually caused by the NAND flash failing. To the computer, the drive is not much different than a floppy or optical drive with no disk inserted.



      As a result, it is not possible to access any data on the drive, nor is it possible to repartition or reformat the drive. Again, from the standpoint of the computer, there is no medium in the drive to be formatted or repartitioned.



      Fake Drive?



      It is also possible that the drive is fake and the cheap memory chip in the drive has failed. Drives failing in this manner will often show up as a storage device with 8MB capacity.



      Potential Hardware-Specific Restoration



      From this answer: You can obtain more information about the drive and its controller using a tool called ChipGenius. You might be able to recover the drive hardware by using a tool such as Bootice to manipulate the MBR.



      Additionally, if the drive uses a Phison controller, you may be able to use the Phison USB Mass Production Tools to reprogram the controller and restore normal operation. Note that doing this will erase all data on the drive.



      Data Recovery



      In cases where stored information is merely corrupted, consumer data recovery software can often recover the contents. However, that won't work if the drive fails as described here.



      There are data recovery services that can use special equipment to try to recover content from the chips. However, it is expensive. If you can't restore the drive to normal operation, it probably isn't worth sending it to a data recovery service unless the data stored on the drive is particularly valuable. You should simply replace the drive.






      share|improve this answer























      • Jake Gould: I'm not sure if I agree with your edit. I won't be around much longer today, but the answer is deliberately structured in this fashion. To understand why I format my answers this way, see recent answers posted by Thaddeus at Science Fiction & Fantasy. Let me know what you think about this format, perhaps in this chat room, and I will respond tomorrow.
        – bwDraco
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:03








      • 1




        Looking at Thaddeus’s answers versus yours, I see a key difference: This is a bullet list of items with one paragraph at the top. Formatting it so you are essentially shouting an answer doesn’t bring more focus to something that already has focus. It just looks like shouting.
        – JakeGould
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:14






      • 5




        @JakeGould ultimately you should respect the wishes of the person who originally wrote a post if there's disagreement about an edit (unless we're talking something completely inappropriate). I agree though that heading formatting shouldn't be abused to make text stand out (it should be used for headings in long posts), and I think your edits were appropriate.
        – nhinkle
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:28










      • @nhinkle Agree with the spirit of the original poster, but I believe the tone used for an area like the science fiction and fantasy site is different from other sites that are essentially dealing with hard facts.
        – JakeGould
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:37






      • 1




        I have had lots of luck with the HP USB Recovery Tool.
        – Burgi
        Mar 2 '16 at 22:38













      up vote
      21
      down vote



      accepted







      up vote
      21
      down vote



      accepted






      Failing Flash Drive



      "No Media" means the flash memory controller cannot communicate with the NAND flash memory on the drive. Because of this, it appears to the computer as an empty disk drive. This is usually caused by the NAND flash failing. To the computer, the drive is not much different than a floppy or optical drive with no disk inserted.



      As a result, it is not possible to access any data on the drive, nor is it possible to repartition or reformat the drive. Again, from the standpoint of the computer, there is no medium in the drive to be formatted or repartitioned.



      Fake Drive?



      It is also possible that the drive is fake and the cheap memory chip in the drive has failed. Drives failing in this manner will often show up as a storage device with 8MB capacity.



      Potential Hardware-Specific Restoration



      From this answer: You can obtain more information about the drive and its controller using a tool called ChipGenius. You might be able to recover the drive hardware by using a tool such as Bootice to manipulate the MBR.



      Additionally, if the drive uses a Phison controller, you may be able to use the Phison USB Mass Production Tools to reprogram the controller and restore normal operation. Note that doing this will erase all data on the drive.



      Data Recovery



      In cases where stored information is merely corrupted, consumer data recovery software can often recover the contents. However, that won't work if the drive fails as described here.



      There are data recovery services that can use special equipment to try to recover content from the chips. However, it is expensive. If you can't restore the drive to normal operation, it probably isn't worth sending it to a data recovery service unless the data stored on the drive is particularly valuable. You should simply replace the drive.






      share|improve this answer














      Failing Flash Drive



      "No Media" means the flash memory controller cannot communicate with the NAND flash memory on the drive. Because of this, it appears to the computer as an empty disk drive. This is usually caused by the NAND flash failing. To the computer, the drive is not much different than a floppy or optical drive with no disk inserted.



      As a result, it is not possible to access any data on the drive, nor is it possible to repartition or reformat the drive. Again, from the standpoint of the computer, there is no medium in the drive to be formatted or repartitioned.



      Fake Drive?



      It is also possible that the drive is fake and the cheap memory chip in the drive has failed. Drives failing in this manner will often show up as a storage device with 8MB capacity.



      Potential Hardware-Specific Restoration



      From this answer: You can obtain more information about the drive and its controller using a tool called ChipGenius. You might be able to recover the drive hardware by using a tool such as Bootice to manipulate the MBR.



      Additionally, if the drive uses a Phison controller, you may be able to use the Phison USB Mass Production Tools to reprogram the controller and restore normal operation. Note that doing this will erase all data on the drive.



      Data Recovery



      In cases where stored information is merely corrupted, consumer data recovery software can often recover the contents. However, that won't work if the drive fails as described here.



      There are data recovery services that can use special equipment to try to recover content from the chips. However, it is expensive. If you can't restore the drive to normal operation, it probably isn't worth sending it to a data recovery service unless the data stored on the drive is particularly valuable. You should simply replace the drive.







      share|improve this answer














      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer








      edited Sep 13 '17 at 2:46

























      answered Jan 31 '15 at 3:28









      bwDraco

      36.5k36135177




      36.5k36135177












      • Jake Gould: I'm not sure if I agree with your edit. I won't be around much longer today, but the answer is deliberately structured in this fashion. To understand why I format my answers this way, see recent answers posted by Thaddeus at Science Fiction & Fantasy. Let me know what you think about this format, perhaps in this chat room, and I will respond tomorrow.
        – bwDraco
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:03








      • 1




        Looking at Thaddeus’s answers versus yours, I see a key difference: This is a bullet list of items with one paragraph at the top. Formatting it so you are essentially shouting an answer doesn’t bring more focus to something that already has focus. It just looks like shouting.
        – JakeGould
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:14






      • 5




        @JakeGould ultimately you should respect the wishes of the person who originally wrote a post if there's disagreement about an edit (unless we're talking something completely inappropriate). I agree though that heading formatting shouldn't be abused to make text stand out (it should be used for headings in long posts), and I think your edits were appropriate.
        – nhinkle
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:28










      • @nhinkle Agree with the spirit of the original poster, but I believe the tone used for an area like the science fiction and fantasy site is different from other sites that are essentially dealing with hard facts.
        – JakeGould
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:37






      • 1




        I have had lots of luck with the HP USB Recovery Tool.
        – Burgi
        Mar 2 '16 at 22:38


















      • Jake Gould: I'm not sure if I agree with your edit. I won't be around much longer today, but the answer is deliberately structured in this fashion. To understand why I format my answers this way, see recent answers posted by Thaddeus at Science Fiction & Fantasy. Let me know what you think about this format, perhaps in this chat room, and I will respond tomorrow.
        – bwDraco
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:03








      • 1




        Looking at Thaddeus’s answers versus yours, I see a key difference: This is a bullet list of items with one paragraph at the top. Formatting it so you are essentially shouting an answer doesn’t bring more focus to something that already has focus. It just looks like shouting.
        – JakeGould
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:14






      • 5




        @JakeGould ultimately you should respect the wishes of the person who originally wrote a post if there's disagreement about an edit (unless we're talking something completely inappropriate). I agree though that heading formatting shouldn't be abused to make text stand out (it should be used for headings in long posts), and I think your edits were appropriate.
        – nhinkle
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:28










      • @nhinkle Agree with the spirit of the original poster, but I believe the tone used for an area like the science fiction and fantasy site is different from other sites that are essentially dealing with hard facts.
        – JakeGould
        Jan 31 '15 at 4:37






      • 1




        I have had lots of luck with the HP USB Recovery Tool.
        – Burgi
        Mar 2 '16 at 22:38
















      Jake Gould: I'm not sure if I agree with your edit. I won't be around much longer today, but the answer is deliberately structured in this fashion. To understand why I format my answers this way, see recent answers posted by Thaddeus at Science Fiction & Fantasy. Let me know what you think about this format, perhaps in this chat room, and I will respond tomorrow.
      – bwDraco
      Jan 31 '15 at 4:03






      Jake Gould: I'm not sure if I agree with your edit. I won't be around much longer today, but the answer is deliberately structured in this fashion. To understand why I format my answers this way, see recent answers posted by Thaddeus at Science Fiction & Fantasy. Let me know what you think about this format, perhaps in this chat room, and I will respond tomorrow.
      – bwDraco
      Jan 31 '15 at 4:03






      1




      1




      Looking at Thaddeus’s answers versus yours, I see a key difference: This is a bullet list of items with one paragraph at the top. Formatting it so you are essentially shouting an answer doesn’t bring more focus to something that already has focus. It just looks like shouting.
      – JakeGould
      Jan 31 '15 at 4:14




      Looking at Thaddeus’s answers versus yours, I see a key difference: This is a bullet list of items with one paragraph at the top. Formatting it so you are essentially shouting an answer doesn’t bring more focus to something that already has focus. It just looks like shouting.
      – JakeGould
      Jan 31 '15 at 4:14




      5




      5




      @JakeGould ultimately you should respect the wishes of the person who originally wrote a post if there's disagreement about an edit (unless we're talking something completely inappropriate). I agree though that heading formatting shouldn't be abused to make text stand out (it should be used for headings in long posts), and I think your edits were appropriate.
      – nhinkle
      Jan 31 '15 at 4:28




      @JakeGould ultimately you should respect the wishes of the person who originally wrote a post if there's disagreement about an edit (unless we're talking something completely inappropriate). I agree though that heading formatting shouldn't be abused to make text stand out (it should be used for headings in long posts), and I think your edits were appropriate.
      – nhinkle
      Jan 31 '15 at 4:28












      @nhinkle Agree with the spirit of the original poster, but I believe the tone used for an area like the science fiction and fantasy site is different from other sites that are essentially dealing with hard facts.
      – JakeGould
      Jan 31 '15 at 4:37




      @nhinkle Agree with the spirit of the original poster, but I believe the tone used for an area like the science fiction and fantasy site is different from other sites that are essentially dealing with hard facts.
      – JakeGould
      Jan 31 '15 at 4:37




      1




      1




      I have had lots of luck with the HP USB Recovery Tool.
      – Burgi
      Mar 2 '16 at 22:38




      I have had lots of luck with the HP USB Recovery Tool.
      – Burgi
      Mar 2 '16 at 22:38












      up vote
      3
      down vote













      Go to MyComputer/Manage/USB Controller/USB Mass Storage/Unistall while plugged, then remove it, and re-plug in, the driver will -re-installed. It solved it on my computer.






      share|improve this answer





















      • 1: I knew my USB Drive was fine, but had been used as a bootable USB to install Windows. This suggestion made it possible for me to see the entire partition in Disk Management. 2: I had no data I needed to recover on it, so I cleaned it before the last step; this can maybe be avoided if you have... I went to diskpart (open in CMD): 2.1: list disk 2.2: sel disk x 2.3: clean 3: Finally, to be able to format it again, I wen into the drives properties and under policies and switched it to "Optimize for performance" (instead of "Optimize for quick removal").
        – RasmusP_963
        Feb 21 '17 at 11:14












      • This worked for me
        – PlanetWilson
        May 6 '17 at 14:05















      up vote
      3
      down vote













      Go to MyComputer/Manage/USB Controller/USB Mass Storage/Unistall while plugged, then remove it, and re-plug in, the driver will -re-installed. It solved it on my computer.






      share|improve this answer





















      • 1: I knew my USB Drive was fine, but had been used as a bootable USB to install Windows. This suggestion made it possible for me to see the entire partition in Disk Management. 2: I had no data I needed to recover on it, so I cleaned it before the last step; this can maybe be avoided if you have... I went to diskpart (open in CMD): 2.1: list disk 2.2: sel disk x 2.3: clean 3: Finally, to be able to format it again, I wen into the drives properties and under policies and switched it to "Optimize for performance" (instead of "Optimize for quick removal").
        – RasmusP_963
        Feb 21 '17 at 11:14












      • This worked for me
        – PlanetWilson
        May 6 '17 at 14:05













      up vote
      3
      down vote










      up vote
      3
      down vote









      Go to MyComputer/Manage/USB Controller/USB Mass Storage/Unistall while plugged, then remove it, and re-plug in, the driver will -re-installed. It solved it on my computer.






      share|improve this answer












      Go to MyComputer/Manage/USB Controller/USB Mass Storage/Unistall while plugged, then remove it, and re-plug in, the driver will -re-installed. It solved it on my computer.







      share|improve this answer












      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer










      answered Mar 23 '16 at 13:58









      visitor

      311




      311












      • 1: I knew my USB Drive was fine, but had been used as a bootable USB to install Windows. This suggestion made it possible for me to see the entire partition in Disk Management. 2: I had no data I needed to recover on it, so I cleaned it before the last step; this can maybe be avoided if you have... I went to diskpart (open in CMD): 2.1: list disk 2.2: sel disk x 2.3: clean 3: Finally, to be able to format it again, I wen into the drives properties and under policies and switched it to "Optimize for performance" (instead of "Optimize for quick removal").
        – RasmusP_963
        Feb 21 '17 at 11:14












      • This worked for me
        – PlanetWilson
        May 6 '17 at 14:05


















      • 1: I knew my USB Drive was fine, but had been used as a bootable USB to install Windows. This suggestion made it possible for me to see the entire partition in Disk Management. 2: I had no data I needed to recover on it, so I cleaned it before the last step; this can maybe be avoided if you have... I went to diskpart (open in CMD): 2.1: list disk 2.2: sel disk x 2.3: clean 3: Finally, to be able to format it again, I wen into the drives properties and under policies and switched it to "Optimize for performance" (instead of "Optimize for quick removal").
        – RasmusP_963
        Feb 21 '17 at 11:14












      • This worked for me
        – PlanetWilson
        May 6 '17 at 14:05
















      1: I knew my USB Drive was fine, but had been used as a bootable USB to install Windows. This suggestion made it possible for me to see the entire partition in Disk Management. 2: I had no data I needed to recover on it, so I cleaned it before the last step; this can maybe be avoided if you have... I went to diskpart (open in CMD): 2.1: list disk 2.2: sel disk x 2.3: clean 3: Finally, to be able to format it again, I wen into the drives properties and under policies and switched it to "Optimize for performance" (instead of "Optimize for quick removal").
      – RasmusP_963
      Feb 21 '17 at 11:14






      1: I knew my USB Drive was fine, but had been used as a bootable USB to install Windows. This suggestion made it possible for me to see the entire partition in Disk Management. 2: I had no data I needed to recover on it, so I cleaned it before the last step; this can maybe be avoided if you have... I went to diskpart (open in CMD): 2.1: list disk 2.2: sel disk x 2.3: clean 3: Finally, to be able to format it again, I wen into the drives properties and under policies and switched it to "Optimize for performance" (instead of "Optimize for quick removal").
      – RasmusP_963
      Feb 21 '17 at 11:14














      This worked for me
      – PlanetWilson
      May 6 '17 at 14:05




      This worked for me
      – PlanetWilson
      May 6 '17 at 14:05










      up vote
      2
      down vote













      This may happen also when there is insufficient power supply to the flash from the usb port. Check that you are not overloading the usb ports with power hungry peripheralas. Also tortured USB cables, if there are any connected, may sometimes leak current and reduce the available power.






      share|improve this answer

























        up vote
        2
        down vote













        This may happen also when there is insufficient power supply to the flash from the usb port. Check that you are not overloading the usb ports with power hungry peripheralas. Also tortured USB cables, if there are any connected, may sometimes leak current and reduce the available power.






        share|improve this answer























          up vote
          2
          down vote










          up vote
          2
          down vote









          This may happen also when there is insufficient power supply to the flash from the usb port. Check that you are not overloading the usb ports with power hungry peripheralas. Also tortured USB cables, if there are any connected, may sometimes leak current and reduce the available power.






          share|improve this answer












          This may happen also when there is insufficient power supply to the flash from the usb port. Check that you are not overloading the usb ports with power hungry peripheralas. Also tortured USB cables, if there are any connected, may sometimes leak current and reduce the available power.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Apr 4 '16 at 18:32









          taaatiti

          364




          364






















              up vote
              2
              down vote













              The flash drive is fried, or at least not functioning. I did this to save the content: put it in the freezer for a couple of hours, and it appeared again for just enough time to copy the contents to the harddrive. Then it disappeared again.






              share|improve this answer



























                up vote
                2
                down vote













                The flash drive is fried, or at least not functioning. I did this to save the content: put it in the freezer for a couple of hours, and it appeared again for just enough time to copy the contents to the harddrive. Then it disappeared again.






                share|improve this answer

























                  up vote
                  2
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  2
                  down vote









                  The flash drive is fried, or at least not functioning. I did this to save the content: put it in the freezer for a couple of hours, and it appeared again for just enough time to copy the contents to the harddrive. Then it disappeared again.






                  share|improve this answer














                  The flash drive is fried, or at least not functioning. I did this to save the content: put it in the freezer for a couple of hours, and it appeared again for just enough time to copy the contents to the harddrive. Then it disappeared again.







                  share|improve this answer














                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer








                  edited May 16 '16 at 5:30









                  techraf

                  3,975111729




                  3,975111729










                  answered May 15 '16 at 18:24









                  per

                  211




                  211

















                      protected by bwDraco May 15 '16 at 18:28



                      Thank you for your interest in this question.
                      Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).



                      Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?



                      Popular posts from this blog

                      How do I know what Microsoft account the skydrive app is syncing to?

                      When does type information flow backwards in C++?

                      Grease: Live!